...To be "disappeared" in India is of particular
concern to human rights organisations. It is widely recognised
that torture is routine in every one of India's 25 states. Every
day in police cells and military barracks throughout the land
pain and indignity are deliberately inflicted by paid agents of
the state (Amnesty International, India: Torture, Rape &
Deaths in Custody, 1992). This threat of torture is substantial
for prisoners who have been legally detained and their details
recorded on police charge sheets. For disappearance victims, who
do not have even this meagre security, their detention is
unacknowledged, the possibility of torture is greater, and the
likelihood of an extra-judicial execution is almost inevitable.

The scenario for a disappearance case is familiar.
Plain-clothed police officers or members of the paramilitary
forces stop a man in the street ( disappearance victims are
almost always young men who are suspected of being members or
having support for one of India's many armed militant groups), or
they may pick him up from his place of work or his home. Often
the abduction is done at night, but the dis-regard for the law
and the lack of political will to eradicate these practices means
the security forces are equally protected if the abduction takes
place in broad daylight.

The officers demand, at the point of a gun, that you enter
their vehicle, which is unmarked and has blacked-out windows.
They do not have an arrest warrant, and because they are not
operating in uniform, there is no way of challenging them. The
victim is then taken to an unmarked 'safe house'. As he is
bundled into the house, manacled and blindfolded, no one makes a
note of his arrival. He is like an insect that has crawled under
the door, and like an insect the officers think his absence, and
possibly his death, will not be significant; they can do what
they like with him.

Many cases of disappearances result in death, disfigured
bodies found in canals, by railway tracks and roadsides are
testimony to the cover-up of state murder that is so much a part
of everyday life in some parts of India. If suspicion of the
killing is successfully laid at the feet of the police, it is
often denied or invalidated by one of two improbable excuses;
that whilst trying to escape he was shot or that he died in an
encounter. An encounter, according to the security forces, is
where a person is killed during a clash between security
personnel and armed militant groups. Members of the security
forces are allegedly ambushed and during the crossfire the
suspect is killed. It is worth noting that, according to Amnesty
International (based on newspaper reports), in 1990 alone,
encounters claimed the lives of 346 Sikh militants but only 25
police officers.

The interpretation of an encounter by human rights groups is
that a suspected militant is either arbitrarily killed or dies as
a result of severe torture and the security forces cover up the
murder by claiming the person died in an encounter. The lack of
an effective response from the Indian authorities has, not
surprisingly, accelerated the rate of disappearances. The State
authorities in India are notorious for their disregard of
allegations of human rights abuses and their unwillingness to
bring to justice any member of the security forces who has, in a
court of law, found to be a perpetrator.

In their belief that prosecuting the illegal activities of the
security forces would create a loss of morale and damage the
fight against separatists movements, police, army and government
officials dismiss virtually all reports as grossly exaggerated or
false. Even when the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances listed a total of 169 specific
allegations, the Indian government responded in only 35 cases
(and then the response only clarified 18 disappearances.

Finally, the trauma of disappearances has considerable effect
on the families involved. The uncertainty of ever seeing a loved
one again is demoralising, a situation often encouraged by the
police who wish to deter the family from making any official
investigation. In one such incident, that of Harjit Singh (see
below), the family were told he had been killed and that the urn
which was given to them contained his ashes. Two weeks later
Kashmir Singh, Harjit's father, saw his son shackled to the bars
of a prison cell.

The extremely high number of disappearance cases which are
found in Punjab reflects the current struggle between the warring
secessionist groups and the security forces who, in their
enthusiasm to remove any root of opposition, are still illegally
detaining hundreds of people. (However, disappearances are not
exceptional to Punjab. In all areas where there are secessionist
movements- Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, and
the many tribal areas of the north-east- allegations of
disappearance are common.)

CASE STUDIES

Below are cases of people who have disappeared. If you are
concerned for their plight please read the details carefully,
select one or two cases, and then write to one of the addresses
at the end of this document. (Suggestions for your letters can
also be found here.) It is worth remembering that publicity for
someone who has disappeared is, in many ways, their only chance
of survival and release.

Darshan Singh (40) & Jaswinder Kaur (17) of
Mohalla, Sadavarat, Ropar City, District Ropar. It is reported
that Surinder Singh, husband of Jaswinder Kaur, visited Darshan
Singh' s residence on 26 February, 1995, to see his in-laws.
Shortly after his arrival the CIA Staff Ropar visited the house
to take Surinder Singh away. He escaped, but the officers
detained his wife Jaswinder Kaur, although she was not wanted in
any case. On 6 March the CIA Staff Ropar again visited Darshan
Singh s residence and took him away, again without a
warrant because he was not wanted in any case. Moreover, the
house was confiscated by CIA Staff, without a warrant, leaving
Kurmit Kaur and her five remaining children homeless. A habeas
corpus petition, submitted by a human rights lawyer, Ranjan
Lakenpal, on behalf of Darshan Singh and Jaswinder Kaur, was
issued on 23 March, 1995, and a writ asking the state authorities
to return the house to Kurmit Kaur was issued on 16 March, 1995.
It is feared that whilst Darshan Singh and Jaswinder Kaur are
being illegally detained they may be tortured to extract
information regarding the whereabouts of Surinder Singh.

Barjinder Singh (alias Pappu, 25), son of Bahadur Singh
Mangat, of village Khanjarwal Tehsil: Jagron, District Ludihana,
is reported to have been abducted by the Jagron police on 5
February, 1995, at mid-night, from his in-laws' house: village
Sidhwan Kalan (3km from Jagron). Bahadur Singh has petitioned the
DIG of Ludihana, Ranjan Gupta, but no further news is available.

Lakhbir Singh (23) of Mohallapreet Nagar, District
Ludihana, is reported to have been picked up at 02.30 on 24
January, 1995, from his home by the Sandar police (Ludihana). His
wife, Charanjeet Kaur, has approached the SSP for the area,
Hardipp Dhillon, however, no further news is available.

Jagbir Singh (alias Jagga, 20), son of Ajaib Singh of
village Adliwal (18 km from Amritsar) is a mason by profession.
On 15 January, 1995, when he was returning home from work, it is
alleged that he was abducted by police cats (or Black Cats,
masked undercover officers) on the Gumtala bend of the Ajunla
Road at about 18.00. Jagbir Singh' s father believes that his son
has been kidnapped by the police. He contacted the DIG of the
area, D. R. Bhatti, and petitioned him to search all the local
police stations. Unfortunately, Jagbir Singh was not found. Jagga
might have been eliminated by police cats rather than tortured
Ajaib Singh has said. However, it is reported that four days
after his disappearance a telegram arrived from Jullundhur for
Ajaib Singh, apparently from his son, saying "I'm ok."

Sukhvinder Singh, of village Chhann Noorowal Thesil
Ajnala, Dis. Amritsar, is reported to have been picked up by the
Lopoke police (who fall under the jurisdiction of the Amritsar
police) on 7 January, 1995. It is alleged that he was tortured,
and his wife, Jasbir Kaur, who visited him daily to bring him
food, has said that he was in a miserable condition. This
included pain all over his body and blood coming from his
genitals. On 1 February, 1995, Jasbir Kaur was refused permission
to give food to her husband or to even see him. She feared that
her husband had been killed late on 31 January. The following day
the police claimed that Sukhvinder Singh had escaped by scaling
the walls on February 1. However, he has not returned home and
despite his wife petitioning the local authorities and police to
find her husband, he has not re-appeared.

Sukhpal Singh Pali (24), son of Chhota Singh, is a
resident of Sekhuiva village, District Sangrur) and a journalist
for the Punjabi paper Aj di Awaz . It is reported that he was
picked up by the Punjab police on 13 July, 1994, from his
maternal village Churhal Kalan, Sunam district, Sangrur.
Witnesses to the abduction are his father, Gulab Singh (uncle),
Jasnail Kaur (aunt) Gurdev Kaur and Sukhpal's brother Harpal
Singh. They say that the police party included a driver called
Pandit of the Punjab police and a Home-guard jawan, Balbir Singh.
Petitions have been made by the family and the journalist's union
in India, and the Supreme Court have now ordered an investigation
into his disappearance. The paper which Sukhpal Singh writes for
has already been a target for harassment and intimidation, as
well as illegal detention of staff members (campaigns by Index on
Censorship and Article 19 have focused attention on this), and
the particular case of Sukhpal Singh has featured in the country
reports of Index on Censorship's bi-monthly magazine (most
recently, Jan-Feb. 1995).

Sukhvinder Singh Bhatti (40), from Badbar village in
District Sangrur, is a human rights lawyer. On 12 May, 1994, he
was travelling home from work to his village in Badbar, Punjab
when the bus he was travelling on was stopped by six
plain-clothes men who searched the bus and t ook Sukhvinder Singh
Bhatti away in a Murati van which had no number plates. He has
not been seen since. The involvement of the police is suspected
because close to the spot where the abduction took place are two
police check-points (Kooner and Badbar), and yet no officer
intervened, and secondly, it is illegal for anyone, except the
police, to travel through Punjab without number plates. Moreover,
although the abduction was known by 13 May (it was reported in
the Ajit newspaper on 14 May), the police did not register a case
until 15 May, and then it was registered by the police in Dhanola
which is a considerable distance from the actual incident (for
full details of this case see Khalsa Human Rights report KHR
06/94).

Ajit Singh (75), is a resident of village Khuradpur,
near Adampur, District Jalandhar. It is alleged that he was
abducted by police, who were driving a Murati van, at 07.30 on 31
October, 1993. He has not been seen since.

Major Singh, son of Nazar Singh, was working as an
assistant to a Head Granthi (priest) in Gurdwara Sant Sahib Tarn
Taran when it is reported he was picked up by SHO Sampuran Singh
of police station Sadar, Tarn Taran. The abduction took place
outside the house of Dilbagh Singh (SP Tarn Taran) on 7
September, 1993. Witnesses to the abduction include four men who
were accompanying Major Singh; Hardial Singh (son of Mohinder
Singh) of village Kajanpura (District Gurdaspur), Joginder Singh
(son of Bawa Singh of village Threwal (Gurdaspur), Jasbir Singh
Dimpa of village Lidhar (Amritsar), and Gurinder Singh of Tarn
Taran. As Major Singh had not been produced in any court nor has
he been released, Col. Surinder Sain wrote to the authorities on
19 November, 1993. According to Sukhvinder Singh, Major Singh's
brother (who is also in the army posted in Kashmir), says his
brother is not wanted in any case. Suhkvinder Singh has now filed
a writ in the Punjab High Court to investigate the disappearance
of his brother.

Jagtar Singh, son of Labh Singh, is a resident of
village Sidhupur Kalan near Morinda, District Patiala/Rupar. It
is alleged that Jagtar Singh was picked up by the Kharar police
(District Rupar), in the presence of his elder brother and uncle
(Calcutta Singh, a former village official), in a Maruti van
(registration number PB -27-1284 or PB-12-1284) at 20.00 on 24
August, 1993. The arrest is reported to have been led by DSP
Harminder Singh, and SHO Pritam Singh. According to Calcutta
Singh, he was unable to gain access to Jagtar and the SHO refused
to register the case. Moreover, despite a deputation of 30
village officials meeting a Punjab Minister, Jagmohan Singh Kang,
a lock adalat (proceedings held in private) was held on 14
September, 1993, and attended by the SSP. Calcutta Singh
concluded "I have come to know that Jagtar Singh, my nephew,
has been killed by the police under the influence of certain
persons directions." The case of Jagtar Singh is now
being looked into by the Punjab High Court.

Satpal Singh, son of Jaswant Singh, is a resident of
Phase IV, Mohalli, District Ropar. It is alleged that Satpal
Singh was picked up by police in a white Gypsy van on 18 August,
1993 . Despite petitions by his family, he has not yet been
produced in court (under Article 167 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure police are obliged by law to produce a suspect before a
magistrate within 24 hours of arrest).

Gursahib Singh, son of Lakha Singh, is a resident of
village Vanika, near Chogawan, District Amritsar, is alleged to
have been picked up by police in the last week of July, 1993. He
has not been seen since.

Harpal Singh (40), son of Subedar Karnail Singh, of
village Hardorawal, near Churian, District Gurdaspur, is alleged
to have been taken from his home by the Dhilwan police on 17
July, 1993. The police were accompanied by officers from the
CRPF. Harpal Singh's brother, Jaspal Singh, and a village
Sarpanch (elder), Hazara Singh of Hardorawal, are reported to
have seen the officers, who escorted Harpal away, working at the
Dhilwan police station. However, the Dhilwan SHO did not allow
access to Jaspal Singh to see if his brother was actually being
detained and to this day no acknowledgement of the detention has
been made. Harpal Singh's parents have sent telegrams to the
State Home Secretary, the Punjab & Haryana High Court for
their intervention, but Harpal has still not been produced in
court (Article 167 also applies).

Tejinder Singh (33), son of Budh Singh, is a resident
of District Sangrur. He was last seen on 17 July, 1993, when he
was asked to accompany two police officers through the village
streets to identify militants. This final abduction is the
culmination of a series of police harassments on the family
because of the alleged militant involvement of Tejinder's
brother, Jagdeep Singh. (For full details of this case see Khalsa
Human Rights report KHR 01/94.)

Attar Singh, son of Harbhajhan Singh, is a resident of
village Khilchain, District Amritsar. He is also the priest at
the Khilchain gurdwara (Sikh temple). In a letter written by
Manjit Kaur, his wife, she states "The first case they [the
police], like so many other innocent people, put on my husband
was when we as priest family were living in village of Deriwal,
District Gurdaspur...My husband was tortured many times. The
methods of torture is difficult to put into words. After this we
moved onto village Khilchian as village priest family. While we
were living here my husband was charged under two different cases
of suspicion to helping militants. One case in Jandiala police
station, the second was at Bias police station. And my husband
was very badly tortured under these two cases. And two months
after his release some officers in uniform and some in
plainclothes jumped over gurdwara walls and kidnapped my husband,
and after this our world was turned into complete darkness."
Manjit Kaur has six children and she has now taken to begging. It
is alleged that he was picked up from the gurdwara by police on
the night of 14 July, 1993 at about 22.30. Attar Singh's father
has written and spoken to the District authorities and has sent
telegrams to the Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh, and the
Director General of Punjab Police, K.P.S. Gill, asking for the
release of his son. So far no response has been made.

Balwinder Singh, who works for the panel section of the
R.C.F. factory at District Kapurthala, is alleged to have been
kidnapped by police on 3 July, 1993, from the main gate of the
R.C.F. factory. No further information is available.

Harbhajan Singh, son of Didar Singh, and resident of
Hirapur, Tehsil, District Jullundhur, is reported to have been
arrested by police at 04.00 on 2 July, 1993. Witnesses, who have
testified to the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (including
Ravinder Kaur, Harbhajan's wife) have stated that they heard
Harbhajan shout that he was being taken away by the police. Other
members of the household tried to follow the blue, numberless
jeep which drove off, but it got away. According to reports,
Harbhajan was not wanted in any criminal case (in previous
arrests he was consistently acquitted), his detention by police
has not been acknowledged, and he has not been produced in any
court.

Palwinder Singh, son of the late Gurbachan Singh Gahil
(whose brother Mahesh Inder Singh Gahil is a militant Khalistani
activist), is a resident of village Gahil, near Bhawani Garh,
District Sangrur. Palwinder Singh is alleged to have been
detained by Sangrur police in the last week of June, 1993. He has
not been seen since.

Jarnail Singh, a member of the Communist Party of
India, was detained by the Jagraon police, District Ludhiana, in
May, 1993 . He is alleged to have been picked up from his
village, Rasupur, and it is alleged that he has been tortured.
Despite protests lodged by his family and members of the
Communist Party of India, Jarnail's present whereabouts is
unknown.

Malkiat Singh Panch (35), son of Gurdit Singh, is a
resident of Sangowal, District Ludhiana. It is alleged that he
was picked up in a Maruti van (registration number PB 02 9473) by
police cats at 14.00 on 21 April, 1993. It is believed he was
then taken towards village Alamgir on the Sangrur Road. No
further information is available.

Jathedar Charat Singh Rauke, a President of the Akali
Dal (Sikh political party), from District Faridkot, is alleged to
have been taken away by plain-clothed policemen at 13.10 on 25
March, 1993. According to witnesses in the village where the
abduction took place, the police came in a Maruti car with the
registration number PB 10 C 566 and a Maruti van PB 04 B 9593.
The abduction took place during village elections. According to
village reports, Jathedar Charat Singh Rauke had been harassed
and intimidated for a number of days before the abduction. So
far, although petitions have been made to the Punjab &
Haryana High Court and to District authorities, no further
information has been forthcoming.

Sukhdev Singh Chamkaur (48), is a petrol-pump owner and
resident at Phase IV, Mohalli, District Ropar. He is also a
leading member of the Shiromani Babbar Akali Dal, a political
party. On 18 March, 1993, he was told to see the SHO at Sohana
police station (District Ropar) at 11.00. He was taken to the
station in a Tata Mobile car and both Sukhdev Singh Chamkaur and
the driver were detained. The driver was later released but
Sukhdev Singh Chamkaur was kept for at least two months. In those
two months Sukhdev Singh Chamkaur telephoned his family twice and
wrote one letter (the family acknowledge that the letter was in
his handwriting) saying he was being held the CIA interrogation
centre at Ropar. Then the communication stopped. Kamalijit Kaur,
Sukhdev' s wife, has since petitioned the Punjab High Court to
investigate her husband's disappearance. No further news is
available.

Rajbir Singh, son of Rattan Singh, is a resident of
village Rampur, Bhootuind, District Amritsar. Rajbir Singh
enrolled as a constable with the Punjab police and was sent to a
training college at Phillaur on 1 January, 1993. On 26 February,
1993, Rajbir' s father went to visit his son but was unable to
see him. The Duty Section officer told him that Rajbir had gone
absent from the course. The Principal of the college, K. S.
Ghuman added that Rajbir Singh had been taken away by the
Superintendent of Operations, H. S. Sekhou at 17.00 on 24
February, 1993. Rajbir's father and the village sanpanch (elected
village official), Hardev Singh, went to meet SP Sekhou at the
Jagraon Police Headquarters. He told them that Rajbir had to be
interrogated and this resulted in him being ill and that he will
be released when he is better. Nothing has been heard of him
since. Rajbir's parents have filed a writ in the Punjab High
Court but this was disposed off by the magistrate. They then took
the same writ to the Indian Supreme Court. Again this was
disposed off. However, the Supreme Court directed the High Court
to review the matter afresh .

Harjinder Singh, son of Kashmir Singh of village Waring
Suba Singh near Khadoor, District Amritsar, is alleged to have
been taken from his shop and detained by police on 5 February,
1993. According to his father, Kashmir Singh, "My son
Harjinder Singh was picked up by the Tarn Taran Division police,
whose SHO is Swaran Singh, on 5.2.93 at 9.45 morning time from my
house/shop." Harjinder' s father was told by the SHO that
his son would be released in 2-4 days, but "we [Kashmir and
a village official] went to Tarn Taran for 8 days continuos, but
my son was not released." After 8 days, Harjinder Singh was
taken from Tarn Taran police station to Kang police station by
the officer in charge, SHO Mohinder Singh..."[When
challenged] Mohinder Singh said it was not him who' s got my son,
but it was Gurdev Singh, SHO of Bheronwal. He took your son from
Kang police station on 14 February 1993. After talking to Gurdev
Singh, he refused that he got my son and he also refused that he
took my son to Bheronwal police station." Kashmir Singh has
now written to many officials and even placed an advertisement in
the local newspaper, however, no further news of his detention
has been acknowledged by the police and no further information is
available.

Gurdeep Singh, who works at the sugar mill at Dhariwal
and is a resident of village Pachnawat, near Dhariwal, District
Gurdaspur, was produced before the Qadian police by the village
panchayat (elected elder) in January, 1993. Other members of the
village committee ar e reported to have seen Gurdeep Singh in
police custody for at least a week after his detention for
questioning. The Qadian police claim that Gurdeep Singh was
released immediately after interrogation. However, to this day,
Gurdeep Singh has not returned home. Family and friends believe
he has died through excessive torture and that his body has been
disposed.

Bikkar Singh, son of Surjit Singh, is alleged to have
been picked up by plain-clothed policemen at 18.00 on 29
December, 1992. Bikkar Singh's brother, Avtar Singh of village
Sarhali Kalan near Tarn Taran, District Amritsar, and his mother,
Bibi Gurmej Kaur, have petitioned for his release. No further
information is available.

Mela Singh, an analyst with th e Co-operative Societies
and a resident of Khalsa Avenue, District Amritsar, is alleged to
have been picked up by plain-clothed policemen from near the
railway workshop, Putlighar, District Amritsar on 14 December,
1992. Mela's wife, Bibi Kuljinder Kaur, has contacted police
officials asking them to make a FIR with regards her husband's
alleged kidnapping. So far the FIR has not been lodged, leading
to suspicions that the police may have been involved in the
abduction and are trying to cover-up the incident. Similarly,
writs of habeas corpus (which demand that an individual has to be
produced in court) have been met with no response.

Wassan Singh, an activist for the Akali Dal, is alleged
to have been abducted by two police officers on 7 November, 1992.
It is reported that Wassan Singh, a resident of Nawan Pind
Hundal, District Gurdaspur, has been tortured by the Amritsar
police where it is believed he is being illegally detained. The
police of Gurdaspur deny all knowledge of Wassan s
detention and have made no attempts to obtain information from
the Amritsar police about the allegations of torture and illegal
detention.

Parminder Singh, son of Hardeep Singh Dhillon, was
arrested by the Punjab police on 9 October, 1992, as he travelled
from his native village Jhabal, District Amritsar, to Baba Budha
Secondary School in Bir Sahib, Amritsar, where he is a science
master. Parminder' s father, a senior assistant at the Guru Nanak
Dev University, has already written to the District authorities
and has sent telegrams to the Chief Justice of the Punjab &
Haryana High Court, and to Beant Singh, the State's Chief \par
Minister, but has not received any reply and his son's
whereabouts is still unknown.

Buta Singh Bhatti, President of the Bharti Ghat Ginti
and Dalit Mukti Front, is a resident of village Leelan, Jagraon,
District Ludhiana. It is alleged that he was abducted by the
Punjab police in an unmarked Maruti car on the morning of 24
September, 1992. Reports state he was taken to a secret detention
centre.

Hardial Singh Karseva Wala is a Kar Sewa Saint (a Sikh
holy man who builds gurdwaras- Sikh temples). It is reported he
was abducted by the SHO at Sarhali whilst at the Gurusar Mehraj
gurdwara near Ram Pura Phul, District Batinda, at 10.30 on 14
September, 1992. He has not been seen since.

Mukhtiar Singh, son of Harbhajhan Singh, is a resident
of village Kalan Bala, near Dhariwal, District Gurdaspur.
Mukhtiar Singh is a police constable. It is reported that whilst
on duty at a police check-point, Mukhtiar Singh and Gurmeet Kaur
were picked up by the Jalandhar police on 30 August, 1992.
Gurmeet Kaur was released after a few days, following petitions
raised by the families of both people, however, Mukhtiar Singh is
still being detained.

Sukhmander Singh, son of Major Singh Dallah (of village
Dallah, District Ludhiana), is a soldier serving with the Indian
army. It is alleged that whilst returning to his village for a
holiday, he was abducted near the village Akkhara by police cats
on 19 July, 1992. His family say that he had Rs 25,000 on him. No
further information is available.

Jasbir Singh, son of Bibi Balwant Kaur, is a resident
of village Kangniwal, District Jalandhar. It is alleged that he
was abducted by the Jalandhar police from his village at 09.00 on
25 June, 1992. His mother has petitioned the Chief Justice of the
Punjab & Haryana High Court and Beant Singh, so far no
response has been forthcoming. (See also Amnesty International,
An Unnatural Fate : Disappearances and Impunity in the Indian
States of Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab1993, A.I. Index ASA
20/42/93, p.59).

Mohinder Singh, son of Avtar Singh, is an agricultural
inspector. He is a resident of village Jeon Singh Wala, near
Sardulgarh, District Bathinda. It is alleged that he was abducted
by four policemen in plain clothes and driven away in an unmarked
vehicle on 21 June, 1 992. He has not been seen since. Mohinder's
wife, Bibi Bhajhan Kaur, has petitioned District officials, the
SP Bathinda and Beant Singh. No further information is known.

Param Satinderjit Singh, son of Sawinder Singh (a
lecturer at a State Secondary School), of village Kalanour,
District Gurdaspur, is alleged to have been taken away by the
Punjab police on 18 May, 1992. It is reported that he was
abducted between 16.00-18.00 from Lawrence Road, Amritsar and
taken away in a jeep. He has not been seen since. Param
Satinderjit Singh is a student at the Guru Nanak Dev (GND)
University in Amritsar. His father has already petitioned the
Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, K.P.S.
Gill, and has been interviewed by a research team from Human
Rights Watch/Asia (see report, Dead Silence: The Legacy of Human
Rights Abuses in Punjab, May, 1994, p.51-52. Following the
abduction, Dr. Atamjit Singh, the dean of student welfare at GND
went to the police but was told Param was not in custody. Further
protests by students and lecturers resulted in a meeting with the
SSP Amritsar, Hardeep Singh Dhillon, who told them that Param had
not been detained by his officers but by police belonging to
another district who were operating without permission. They were
also told, "You cannot always talk in legal terms; the law
only exists in the books. There is a 99% chance that the boy has
been killed." On September 23, 1993, another university
delegation met with A.S. Chatha, the Chief Secretary. He told
them that Param was still in custody, that he is suspected of
participating in a bombing incident but that the police had not
registered a case against him because they could not find any
witnesses. Mr. Chatha also promised the delegation that if Param
is charged under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act,
they could then see him. As yet no charge has been made, no
access to Param been permitted and the police have provided no
further information.

Harjit Singh was abducted by police on 29 April, 1992,
whilst he was standing at a bus stop. Later the police claimed
Harjit Singh was captured on 11 May and then killed in an attack
by Sikh militants, he was actually seen alive in police custody
on two occasions by his father. He was last seen alive on 15
October, 1992, when he was being held in a CIA building in Mal
Mundi (for full details of this case see Amnesty International,
An Unnatural Fate pp. 29-31).

Karam Singh, a resident of village Bhattian, District
Amritsar, has not been seen since 1991. His family believe he has
been illegally detained, tortured and killed. His brother, S.
Bachittar Singh, his brother's wife, Jasbir Kaur, his
brother-in-law, Amrik Singh, and his children have all been
repeatedly detained and allegedly tortured by the Goindwal
police. Karam Singh's family are in constant fear of further
abuses.

all State and District authorities should maintain a central,
up to date and accurate register of all detainees in the State,
clearly indicating the place of detention;

all units of the security forces should be obliged to notify
the State and District authorities as soon as an arrest is made,
and as detailed an account of the arrest should be recorded
(including name, age and address of detainee, place of arrest,
place and period of detention, name of arresting officer and
under whom the detainee is responsible);

members of the judiciary, relatives of the detainee and their
legal representatives as well as relevant bodies and other
interested parties should have immediate access to all
information being kept on the detainee;

relatives should be immediately notified of the arrest and
place of detention;

detainees should only be held in officially recognised places
of detention;

the authorities should adopt an active policy to prevent
disappearances, such as:

taking immediate and effective steps to ensure that all those
against whom there is evidence that they have participated in or
sanctioned disappearances should be promptly brought to justice,
and;

the government should strengthen legal safeguards to prevent
disappearances and abide by its international obligations under
the human right standards which it has signed and ratified (most
notably the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights and
India's own Constitution, all three guarantee the right to be
free from arbitrary arrest and detention).

The partition of British India that created the independent
nations of Pakistan and India in 1947 drew a line through Punjab.
When the resultant civil conflicts and migrations ended, the
Sikhs were concentrated in east Punjab. In 1953, India' s central
government appointed a commission which redrew the boundaries of
all states, with the exception o f Punjab, along linguistic
lines. In response, Sikh leaders mobilised for a Punjabi
language-majority state. Fearing that a Punjabi state might lead
to a separatist Sikh movement, the central government opposed the
demand. In response, Sikh politicians launched a civil
disobedience campaign that led to the arrest of thousands by the
end of 1955. Continuing civil disobedience campaigns precipitated
the arrest of over 50,000 Sikhs between 1960 and 1961.

Between 1981 and the army assault on the Golden Temple in
Amritsar in June, 1984, there were protracted negotiations
between the government and the Sikh Akali Dal leadership. After
1982, the Akali Dal demanded more autonomy for the state, the
promised transfer of the capital city Chandigarh and other
Punjabi- speaking areas to Punjab, a Sikh code of personal law,
quotas for Sikhs in the military, and the deletion of language in
the Indian constitution which brackets Sikhs with Hindus.

On 1 May, 1982 the government of India broke off talks with
the Akali Dal and banned several Sikh organisations. Members of
these banned groups retreated to the Golden Temple complex,
becoming an armed headquarters for sections of the independence
movement. Talks between the government and the Akali Dal resumed
in late 1982 but en ded in stalemate, and the failure of the
civil disobedience campaigns to achieve a breakthrough prompted
some politicians to align with the militants and justify the
resort to violence. Attacks on policemen and civilians escalated.
President's Rule, direct rule from Delhi, was imposed on Punjab
on 6 October, 1983, after a bus was ambushed and six Hindu
passengers murdered.

Increasingly, Sikh men were reported to have been executed in
staged encounters with security forces, setting in place the
cycle of violence. The army led an assault on the Golden Temple
on 4 June, 1984, and because foreign journalists were deported
and domestic journalists were prohibited from reporting it is
difficult to asses how the confrontation was conducted.

On 31 October, 19 84, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two
Sikh bodyguards. In the days that followed, anti-Sikh rioting
paralysed New Delhi, ultimately claiming at least 3,000 lives.
Sikh men were beaten, stabbed, and doused with kerosene and
burned to death by mobs. In some neighbourhoods, children were
also killed, and women were raped. At least 50,000 people were
displaced, and tens of thousands of Sikh homes and businesses
were burned to the ground.

Since then, the negotiations for peace have been constantly
undermined by the lack of continuity in India's government, the
lack of a political will for a solution, and because of the
increasing number of atrocities committed by both Sikh militants
and security personnel.